CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(■Monographs) 


ICIMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  Microraproductiont  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  hittoriquas 


TMhnical  and  Bibliographic  Notts  /  Not**  tachniquas  et  bibliographiquet 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any 
of  the  images  in  tlie  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  mattrad  of  filming,  are 
checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exem(.<4ire  qu'il 
lui  a  M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet 
cxemplaire  qui  sont  peut4tre  uniques  du  point  de  vue 
btbliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image 
reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvcnt  exiger  une  modification 
dam  la  mithoda  normale  de  f  ilmage  sont  indiqufa 
ci-dessous. 


0 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagte 


Q  Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Q  Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 


□  Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicula 


n 


Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


□  Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


n 


n 


n 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relie  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge  interieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have 
been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  d'une  restauratlon  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  etait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  ete  filmees. 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplementaires: 


□  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pellicultcs 

H  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicolories,  tacheties  ou  piquees 

□  Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

□  Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

□  Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualite  inegale  de  rimp 


egale  de  I 'impression 

Continuous  pagination/ 
Pagination  continue 

Includes  index(es)/ 
Comprend  un  (des)  index 

Title  on  header  taken  from:  / 
Le  titre  de  Ten-tCte  provient: 


□  Title  page  of  issue 
Page  de  titre  de  la 


□  Caption  of  Issue/ 
Titre  de  depart  de  la 

D 


livraison 


depart  de  la  livraison 

Masthead/ 

Generique  (periodiques)  de  la  livraison 


This  iten:  Is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  fllme  au  taux  de  reduction  mdique  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X 


12X 


16X 


20X 


22X 


26  X 


30X 


24  X 


28  X 


32  X 


The  copy  filmed  h«r«  has  b««n  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Univartity  of  Toronto  Library 


L'exemplaire  fllmA  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
g4n*rositt  de: 

University  of  Toronto  Library 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  Iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  M  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettet*  de  l'exemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, an  '  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimte  sont  filmte  en  commenqant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniira  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iiiustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmfo  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  ^^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  'END '), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboies  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  seion  le 
cas:  le  symboie  — »-  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symboie  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
fiimis  i  des  taux  de  reduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supirieur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nicessaire.  lies  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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MICROCOrf   RBOimiON   TiST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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S'.S  Rochester,  New  York        14609      USA 

^S  (716)  482 -0300 -Phone 

^B  (716)  28S-  5989  -Fox 


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MEMORIALS 


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MEMORIALS 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  CELEBRATION  OF  THE 
TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVER«'\RY 

OP   TMS 

BILL  MEMORIAL  LIBRARY 
GROTON,  CONN.,  OCTOBE      15th,  m3 


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frcbcrkh  Dcnr^  S^ftce,  flD.B..  pb.©.  (Uf'^3  -  Z-' ^ 

preeldert  of  apnnecticu'  OoUeae  tor  momr  > 


GROTON,  CONNECTICUT : 
Pi.alished  by  the  Bill  Memorial  Library  Aasociation 
1913 


-»■" 


THE  BILL  MEMORIAL  LIBRARY 


Thb  Bihh  Memorial  Library  was  founded  by  Mr. 
Frederic  Bill  in  1888  in  memory  of  his  two  deceased  sis- 
ters. At  the  Session  of  the  General  Assembly  next  fol- 
lowing, the  trustees  chosen  by  the  founder  were  incorpo- 
rated under  the  title  of  the  Bill  Memorial  Library. 

The  books  were  first  placed  in  the  Monument  Street 
School  house  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  beautiful 
building  recently  erected  and  presented  to  the  First  School 
District  by  the  donor  of  the  Library. 

On  June  18th,  1890,  the  first  library  buildinj,  was 
dedicated  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  In  1906,  to  furnish 
space  for  the  ir  ireasing  number  of  books,  the  building 
was  enlarged  to  its  present  proportions,  and  the  north  wing 
added  to  give  room  for  a  museum  of  Natural  History, 
which  now  contains  a  large  and  beautiful  collection  of 
rare  butterflies,  and  several  choice  paintings  by  eminent 
artists,  also  two  cases  of  finely  mounted  birds,  the  latter 
the  gift  of  Mr.  Gurdon  Bill  of  Springfield,  Mass,  a  brother 
of  the  donor  of  the  library.  The  endowment  and  entire 
resources  of  the  institution  have  been  generously  provided 
by  the  founder. 


!      (| 


.f"' 


MEMORIALS 


Frederick  Henry  Sykes 


President  of  Connecticut  College  for  Women 


The  Making  of  Memorials 

THE  making  of  memorials  is  one  of  the  natural 
pieties  of  man.  Man  may,  indeed,  be 
distinguished  among  animals  by  the  extent  and 
variety  of  his  memory,  but  he  shares  with  all 
creation  in  the  gift  of  forgetfulness;  his  glory 
is  to  have  struggled,  and  in  part  successfully, 
to  counteract  his  weakness.  The  warder  of  the 
brain  is  forever  going  off  guard;  and  that  alert 
and  insidious  forgettory,  as  someone  calls  it, 
works  overtime.  But  by  infinite  devices  man 
has  more  than  outmanoeuvred  the  enemy.  Out 
of  sight  may  be  out  of  mind,  but  it  is  no  longer 
out  of  memory.  Captain  Cuttle's  device  you  will 
recall,  was  to  turn  the  leaf  down  or  make  a  note 
of  it.  Some  married  men  try  knots.  Married  men, 
they  say,  have  not  sc  good  a  memory  as  bachelors. 


■r' 


8  MEMORIALS 

Yet  I  don't  know;  I  fancy  they  only  learn  more 
about  their  lapses.  But  all  humanity  struggles 
against  the  sweeping,  all-oblivious  current,  and 
is  forever  casting  anchors  to  windward  in  the 
driving  stream  of  time. 

If  we  can  set  up  something  present,  some- 
thing significant  and  enduring,  something  that 
takes  the  eye  and  interests  the  mind,  and  if  such 
can  be  endued  with  associations  of  persons  or 
deeds  or  events,  we  may  still  hold  fast  through 
the  long  years  what  we  greatly  desire  shall  persist. 
Such  is  the  reason  for  memorials. 

The  good  habit  of  making  memorials  is 
of  great  antiquity.  Jacob  knew  something  of 
human  nature;  his  vision  of  heaven,  his  covenant 
with  that  shrewd  exploiter  of  labor,  Laban,  his 
love  of  his  dear  wife  Rachel,  all  had  alike  the 
rude  memorial  of  a  stone  set  up. 


"When  his  wife  Rachel  died,  Jacob  set  a  pillar  on 
her  grave;  that  is  the  pillar  of  Rachel's  grave  unto  this 
day." 

In  the  errliest  written  record  of  the  civili- 
zation of  our  own  race,  we  also  find  the  memorial, — 
the  cairn  raised  on  the  high  sea-ness  by  the  com- 
rades of  Beowulf,  that  all  sea-farers  might  see 
it  and  the  hero-king  be  remembered. 

The  habit  has  grown  with  the  ages, — with 
the  growth  of  settled  habitations,  with  the  growth 
of  the  moral  emotions,  with  the  deepening  sense 


M 


MEMORIALS  9 

of  history.  Now  man  fills  the  earth  with  monu- 
ments. The  village  churchyard,  the  town  square, 
the  shaft-crowned  hill,  the  plazas  and  temples 
of  great  cities,  all  alike  attest  the  place  of  the 
memorial  in  hvunan  life.  Humble  affection,  the 
pomp  of  heraldry,  the  pride  of  princes,  the  admii- 
ation  and  gratitude  of  contemporaries  or  of 
posterity,  have  found  expression  in  all  kinds  of 
memorial  structures  from  before  the  dawn  of 
history  to  our  own  day. 

Glasses  of  Memorials 

Memorials  are  inany  but  the  classes  are 
few;  two  or  three  main  types  perhaps  comprise 
them  all,  —  which  classes  we  may  designate  as 
Mortuary,  Heroic,  and  Public  Service  Memoiials. 

The  Mortuary  Memorial  is  as  universal 
through  the  :iges  as  death  itself.  The  simple 
stone  of  the  churchyard  —  the 

" .      .     frail  memorial  still  erected  nigh, 
With  •    .couth  rimes  and  shapeless  sculpture  decked. 
Imploies  the  passing  tribute  of  a  sigh,  —  " 

or  the  great  Tomb  of  Grant  in  Riverside  Drive, 
New  York,  of  Lincoln  in  Oak  Ridge  Cen;etery. 
Springfield,  of  Napoleon  in  the  Tpvalides,  Paris; 
th^  simple  tablet  or  slab  in  any  parish  church, 
or  the  creations  of  Michael-Angelo  in  the  Chapel 
of  the  Medici;  ^'le  rude  cairn  of  the  primitive 
chief,   or  the  stupendous  miracle  in  stone,   the 


4 
■'4   _ 


»^aaMM 


10 


MEMORIALS 


Great  Pyramid,  inside  the  shell  of  which,  they 
say,  could  stand  St.  Peter's  of  Rome;  so,  by 
some  durable  mark,  great  or  small,  man  strives 
to  guard  the  frail  dust  and  make  enduring  the 
memory  of  the  departed. 

The  Heroic  Memorial  is  the  memorial  of 
achievement,  the  insigma  of  fame.  It  may  be 
the  giant  Statue  in  bronze  or  marble,  commem- 
orating a  Marcus  Aurelius  in  Rome,  a  Victor 
Emmanuel  in  Milan,  a  Cromwell  in  Westminster, 
a  Sherman  in  New  York.  It  may  be  the  great 
Arch  that  marks  the  conqueror,  like  *he  Arch 
of  Titus  or  of  Constant'ne  in  Rome,  or  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe  in  Paris.  It  may  be  the  Column, 
like  the  Vend6me  Column  cast  from  the  cannon 
won  at  AusterHtz,  or  the  Column  of  July  built 
on  the  site  of  the  Bastile  to  mark  the  fall  of 
feudal  tyranny.  It  may  be  the  Shaft  like  that 
shaft  of  light  that  everywhere  greets  the  eye  in 
Washington  in  memory  of  the  Father  of  his 
Cotmtry,  or  the  Groton  Monument  that  crowns 
this  hill  to  testify  to  the  enduring  courage  of  the 
first  fathers  of  this  town  of  Groton,  whose  de- 
scendants are  among  us  here  to-night. 

Such  Memorials,  Mortuary  and  Heroic,  have 
their  place  and  their  power.  They  arrest  the 
eye,  they  recall  the  past.  And  yet  they  are  but 
stone  or  bronze.  Only  the  genius  of  sculptor 
or  architect  can  give  inherent  meaning  to  such 
material  objects  or  render  them  articulate.    And 


■..iW»ffl*%  -...il—M 


MEMORIALS 


II 


it  is  as  rare  tc  find  a  statue  worthy  of  the  great 
man  it  commemorates  as  it  is  to  find  a  worthy 
biography  to  recount  his  life. 

Men  of  genius  have  themselves  trusted  their 
memory  with  more  assurance  '"I  perpetuity  to 
their  own  very  work  rather  than  to  material 
monimients  of  others.  The  proud  lines  of  Wrenn 
in  St.  Paixl's  —  Si  monumentum  requiris,  circum- 
spice  —  illustrate  this.  Horace  built  his  monu- 
ment in  his  own  verse: 

"Exegi  monumentum  aere  perennius." 

Statues,  columns,  arches  of  Rome  are  fallen 
to  decay  and  ruin,  the  prey  of  the  winds,  and 
corroding  showers,  and  the  onset  of  the  countless 
years,  but  Horace's  monument  is  safe. 

Shakespeare  assured  his  friend  of  immor- 
tality through  his  Sonnets  — 

"Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments  of  princes, 
Shall  outlive  this  powerful  rime." 

Milton  disdained  for  Shakespeare  — 

"The  labor  of  an  age  in  piled  stones, 
.     a  star-y  pointing  pyramid." 

Mankind,  seeking  some  memorial  more  sig- 
nificant even  than  storied  urn  or  animated  bust, 
has  evolved  a  third  type,  the  Memorial  of  Service. 
This  type  has  the  prestige  of  antiquity,  but  our 
own  age  has  peculiarly  favored  it.     Everywhere 


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13 


MEMORIALS 


in  our  land  are  rising  memorial  foundations  that 
commemorate  individuals,  but  function  as  well 
in  the  life  of  the  people  —  to  diffuse  knowledge, 
to  foster  art,  or  industry,  to  promote  health  — 
foundations,  in  short,  of  public  service.  Such 
we  may  call  the  Public  Service  Memorial. 

Rome  with  her  high  sense  of  duty  to  the 
state  originated  many  such  memorials.  The 
Flavian  Amphitheatre  joined  with  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  people  of  Rome  the  name  and  memory 
of  the  Flavian  emperors  who  built  it.  The  Forum 
of  Trajan,  the  Claudian  Aqueduct,  the  Baths 
of  Diocletian  and  Caracalla,  all  commemorate 
emperors  of  Rome  who  perpetuated  their  names 
and  spirit,  not  in  dead  stone,  but  in  edifices  of 
public  service. 

This  type  of  memorial  has  appealed  to  us; 
it  is  of  the  spirit  of  this  age.  For  the  character- 
istic and  compelling  spirit  of  our  time  is  its  social 
thought,  its  collective  action,  its  wide-spread 
effort  for  human  betterment.  The  power  of  the 
State,  of  the  Nation  turned  to  the  betterment 
of  the  people  —  that  is  the  new  conception  of 
government.  It  has  produced  our  systems  of 
education,  our  public  hospitals,  our  public  works 
of  irrigation,  and  the  last  wonder  of  the  world  — 
the  Panama  Canal.  The  same  spirit  working 
in  individuals  has  directed  their  beneficence  to 
create  institutions  of  great  public  utility  that  at 
the  same  time  are  most  distinguished  forms  of 


MEMORIALS 


13 


Memorials.  What  memorials  of  nation-vdde,  in- 
deed of  worid-wide  influence,  are  suggested  by 
names  like  Smithson,  Ezra  Cornell,  Johns  Hop- 
kins, Mrs.  Stanford,  Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  Andrew 
Carnegie  1  Memorial  foxmdations  that  function 
in  the  service  of  the  people  —  that  high  tjrpe  of 
memorial  we  have  attained  to  as  the  expression 
of  the  spirit  of  this  age. 


»\«^ 


The  Bill  Memorial  Library 

That  spirit  has  inspired  the  Ufe  of  the  dis- 
tinguished citizen  of  Groton,  to  whom  by  the 
ceremonies  of  this  day  we  seek  to  express  our 
profound  thanks  and  our  lasting  esteem.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago,  when  pubUc  libraries  were  scarcely 
known,  except  in  great  cities,  and  they  adminis- 
tered mainly  for  the  few,  Mr.  Bill  conceived  the 
idea  of  this  endowed  Public  Library,  that  should 
be  a  memorial  to  loved  relatives,  but  should 
also  be  of  enduring  public  service,  making  accessi- 
ble to  this  whole  community,  without  restriction 
and  without  cost,  an  adequate  Collection  of 
Books. 

It  was  the  Founder's  good  fortune  to  see 
his  idea  take  shape  in  stone  and  mortar,  and 
function  as  an  organic  institution  of  his  home 
town.  A  rarer  good  fortune  has  been  his,  to  see 
year  added  to  year  of  beneficent  activity  of  this 
institution,  till  to-day  twenty-five  years  are  mmi- 
bered.    What  a  harvest  of  kindly  memories  must 


w 


14 


MEMORIALS 


3 


u 

I 


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be   his!    What   a   moment   the   long   retrospect 
to-day  must  bring! 

The  Public  Library  as  a  Public  Service 
Institution 

During  these  twenty-five  years  public  libra- 
ries have  become  a  characteristic  of  American 
life.  In  spite  of  the  criticism  to  which  they  are 
subjected,  1  hold  'hat  they  are  a  most  hopeful 
sign  in  a  democratic  civilization.  The  public 
I'.trvice  rendered  to  a  community  by  a  library  is 
just  the  service  rendered  by  books  in  general  to 
civilization. 

Civilization,  we  mu^t  never  forget,  is,  if  a 
wonderful  complex  edifice,  likewise  a  most  pre- 
carious structure.  Its  complexity  can  be  dimly 
realized  if  we  take  any  branch,  say,  of  industrial 
ai .:,  and  consider  the  processes,  inventions,  human 
relationships  that  have  been  combined  to  produce 
and  distribute  a  single  article  of  commerce.  And 
what  is  true  of  our  industries  is  true  of  our  fine 
arts,  our  military  organization,  or  our  religious 
organization,  and  of  what  is  even  more  deeply 
involved  and  intricate,  our  social  life.  The  simi 
of  all  these  activities  called  civilization,  if  complex, 
is  also  precarious.  Civilization  is  forever  being 
lost  and  is  forever  being  renewed.  It  is  the 
possession  of  the  living  who  are  passing  away. 
If  these  cannot  hand  it  on  to  the  young  who 
succeed  them,  civilization  sinks,  arts  and  indus- 


MEMORIALS 


IS 


*i 


tries  and  social  ideals  decline.  Civilization  is  the 
profit-and-loss  account  of  humanity,  and  is  ex- 
posed to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  world's  for- 
tunes. If,  as  Junius  said,  "eternal  vigilance  is 
the  price  of  liberty,"  eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  civilization  —  vigilance  and  memory. 

Fortunately  we  kindle  willingly  the  new 
torches  from  the  old.  As  men  are  bound  by  the 
impulse  of  life  to  continue  themselves  in  children, 
so  they  are  impelled  by  the  thrust  of  intellectual 
life,  or  industrial  life,  or  religious,  or  social  life, 
to  hand  on   heir  share  of  civilization  to  posterity. 

The  simplest  form  of  transmission  is  by 
personal  example  and  personal  instruction.  This 
is  the  method  familiar  to  the  child  in  the  home, 
the  apprentice  in  the  factory,  the  recruit  in  the 
army.  It  is  a  powerful  method  but  limited  in  its 
scope.  Men  have  not  been  satisfied  with  that 
direct  and  personal  transmission.  Even  in  the 
most  ancient  civilizations,  they  used  writing,  and 
clay  tablets  recorded  and  transmit^-"  '  <?  mes- 
sage of  civilization  to  many  gene  i  i.  The 
invention  of  papyrus  made  possible  a  wider  diffu- 
sion of  similar  records.  The  invention  of  printing 
paper  by  movable  types  made  the  multiplication 
cheap,  and  modem  libraries  and  modem  education 
became  possible.  Democracy  in  books  arrived 
at  the  same  time  as  democracy  in  govemment; 
perhaps  from  the  former  sprang  the  latter. 


«   I 


16 


MEMORIALS 


^ 


Books  are  the  chief  records  of  civilization, 
and  they  are  its  chief  vehicles  of  transmission. 
A  lost  civilization  may  be  recovered  if  only  its 
books  can  be  recovered  —  just  as  Babylon  is  now 
bnng  regained;  just  as  Greece  and  Rome,  through 
*he  discover  of  classical  manuscripts,  were  re- 
stored to  the  Middle  Ages,  to  produce  the  magnifi- 
cent epoch  of  the  Renaissance.  The  drama  of 
the  Elizabethans  was  essentially  a  manuscript 
product  for  the  immediate  use  of  the  stage.  But 
some  manuscripts,  thought  capable  of  a  paid 
circulation  among  readers,  had  the  good  luck 
to  get  printed.  Had  we  to  depend  on  the  direct 
transmission  of  the  stage,  or  even  on  manuscript 
copies,  Shakespeare,  to  the  very  last  line,  would 
have  vanished,  like  the  cloud-capped  towers  of 
his  vision,  and  left  not  a  wrack  behind.  But  his 
friends  printed  the  Folio  of  1623,  and  Shakespeare 
is  safe. 

The  record  of  the  "earliest  Greek  civilization, 
of  an  era  a  thousand  years  perhaps  before  Christ, 
is  safe  distilled  in  Homer.  Similarly  the  record 
of  our  early  Germanic  forebears,  preserved  for  us 
only  in  a  book,  in  a  single  manuscript,  which 
itself  narrowly  escaped  destruction  by  fire,  is 
safe  n  our  oldest  epic  that  tells  the  adventures 
of  the  hero  Beowulf. 

Books  not  only  distil  civilization  and  trans- 
mit it,  but  they  are  the  chief  tools  ot  civilization 
in  the  making.     The  power  of  a  book  to  affect 


,ij  ifc.^-_,— a-.. 


'#■• 


MHMORIALS 


17 


life  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  history.  The  Bible, 
i.  e.,  the  Book,  offering  the  largest  single  source  of 
ethical  ideals  that  humanity  has  had  to  draw  on, 
has  been  an  historical  influence  of  the  first  j.nk. 
The  First  Folio  of  Shakespeare  is  worth  more  to 
England,  to  cite  Carlyle's  opinion,  than  the  em- 
pire of  India.  It  was  The  Wealth  of  Nations  act- 
ing through  William  Pitt  that  gave  domiuKjn  to 
England  in  the  Napoleonic  wars.*  Rousseau's 
books,  it  may  fairly  be  claimed,  brought  about 
that  revolution  in  ideas  that  anticipated  and 
made  possible  the  French  Revolution.  Darwm's 
Origin  of  Species,  which  established  in  1859  the 
theory  of  evolution,  has  recci.structed  every 
department  of  biological  science  and  history. 

A  PUuLIC  Library  is  more,  too,  than  a  mere 
collection  of  books,  however  great  and  significant. 
Carlyle's  remark  that  a  collection  of  books  is 
the  true  university,  needs  interpretation  and 
amplification.  Without  selection  and  without 
guidance,  a  collection  of  books  may  be  a  wilder- 
ness of  useless  underbrush  or  inaccessible  timber. 
Who  of  us,  if  he  devoted  his  entire  lifetime  to 
the  reading  of  books,  could  compass  the  product 
of  one  year  of  the  press  of  one  civilized  nation,  — 
the  press  that  has  never  rested  since  t^e  time  of 
Gutenberg.  How  Ecclesiastes  could  lament  the 
endless  making  of  books  when  we  are  patient,  is 
a  mystery. 

*  "If  books  are  to  be  measured  by  the  effect  they  have  produced  on  the 
fortunes  of  mankind,  The  Wtallh  of  Nations  must  rank  among  the  greatest  of 
books."  —  Green,  Short  History  of  the  Enilish  People. 


i.'.-x  <M 


18 


MEMORIALS 


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Now  a  Public  Library  means  selection  of 
books,  it  means  ordered  arrangement,  it  means 
free  access,  it  means  guidance  to  the  reader. 
Thus  the  underbrush  is  cleared  away,  paths  are 
opened  up,  and  the  wealth  of  human  thought 
recorded  in  books  is  rendered  available  for  ser- 
vice to  the  living.  And  that  service  is  of  in- 
calculable value. 

For  books  are  wells  of  entertainment  and 
instruction  of  perennial  influence.  "If  a  man  were 
permitted,"  wrote  Fletcher  of  Saltoun,  "to  make 
all  the  ballads,  he  need  not  care  who  shall  make 
the  laws  of  a  nation."  What  a  company  of  the 
great  of  all  ages  gather  in  any  well-chosen  library! 
Here  in  books  they  teach  and  amuse  us  without 
ennui,  and  how  we  should  have  bored  them  in 
life!  The  infinite  variety  of  appeal!  Each  new 
book  is  a  new  record  of  experience,  each  author 
a  fresh  interpretation  of  life.  And  a  series  of 
writers  like  our  English  novelists  from  Scott  to 
Kipling  are  an  intimate  history  of  the  modern 
English  race.  Balzac,  Tolstoy,  Turgenieff,  Ibsen, 
what  interpretations  of  foreign  nations  these  names 
imply! 

What  v"iety  of  interests  compete  here  for 
our  attentioii.  This  Library  is  a  Theatre  where 
past  ages  rehearse  endless  spectacles  for  our 
entertainment;  the  Chimney-comer  where  trav- 
ellers and  explorers  record  their  adventures; 
where  the  poets  tell  "the  best  and  wisest  thoughts 


PHM 


MEMORIALS 


19 


of  the  wisest  and  best  men;"  the  House  of  Counsel 
for  artist  and  artisan  for  the  mysteries  of  their 
crafts;  the  Inn-of- All-Comers,  where,  tired  and 
hurt  by  the  pressure  of  life,  we  find  solace  and 
again  take  heart. 

This  Library  is  a  symbol  of  the  higher  civil- 
ization. This  site  it  stands  on  still  commemorates 
old  Fort  Griswold,  but  here  is  a  newer  fort,  a 
citadel  of  thought  and  civilization  to  take  its 
place.  For  the  war  of  mankind  is  now  the  struggle 
of  science  and  the  humanities  against  ignorance. 

There  is  a  line  in  Shakespeare,  uttered  by 
the  wise  Prospero,  that  is  pregnant  with  appre- 
ciation of  books: 

"For  me,  my  library  was  dukedom  large  enough." 

And  that  line,  I  fancy,  must  appeal  to  the  Founder 
with  peculiar  force  to-day.  For  twenty-five  years 
this  Library  has  been  the  source  of  social  stimu- 
lus working  in  this  community,  to  refresh  it,  to 
civilize  it.  And  a  survey  of  this  activity  must,  as 
I  have  said,  bring  now  a  splendid  moment. 

Goethe  knew  the  modem  spirit.  Faust,  his 
prototype  of  modernity,  reclaimed,  you  remember, 
a  waste  and  marshy  plain  to  fertile  fields,  made  it 
the  free  home  of  a  bold  industrious  race.  To  see 
that  accomplished  brought  the  crowning  spirit- 
ual moment  —  the  one  perfect  moment  when 
Faust  could  say, 

"Ah,  still  delay  —  thou  art  so  fair." 


■■■■■■ff 


I- 


20 


MEMORIALS 


That  moment  is  yours,  sir,  to-day,  and  we  are 
here  to  rejoice  with  you  and  with  Mrs.  Bill,  who 
has  shared  your  spirit  and  your  work. 

This  moment,  rich  with  the  years,  is  enhanced 
by  a  more  recent  benefaction.  A  sister  institu- 
tion and  near  neighbor  of  this  Library,  the  new 
Public  School  of  this  town,  your  second  gift,  has 
just  been  opened,  to  begin  its  powerful  work  in 
the  field  of  education.  Our  ceremonies  in  part 
record  that  event,  and  Professor  Wilson  has 
illuminated  it  with  the  recollections  and  prophe- 
cies of  the  old  school.  The  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  this  School  and  the  fiftieth  of  this 
Library  will  come  round  all  too  quickly.  I  be- 
speak the  attendance  of  all  present  at  the  cere- 
monies of  that  day,  and  the  presence  of  the 
generous  donors,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bill,  in  particular. 

Institutions  like  this  Library  and  this  School 
are  of  the  things  that  last.  They  go  on  adding 
their  health-giving  streams  to  the  great  turbid 
eternal  current  of  human  life,  as  the  Thames 
adds  its  clear  waters  to  the  infinite  sea.  By  such 
memorials  we  poor  mortals,  indeed,  do  not  die 
utterly,  nor  utterly  lack  remembrance.  To  create 
a  perennial  source  of  influence,  to  render  service, 
ever  renewed  through  successive  generations  down 
the  long  years,  in  the  cause  of  hirnian  betterment, 
that  surely  is  a  high  immortality,  if,  indeed,  it 
be  not  the  highest. 


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Exercises  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Anniversary 
of  the  Bill  Memorial  Ubrary 

RCCCPTION    AT    THE    LIBRARY 

5.30  to  7.30  in  the  Afternoon 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frederic  Bill,  Guests  of  Honor. 

PROGRAM    or   EXERCISES 

AT  THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 
7.30  in  the  Evening 

Organ  Recital  -  -  Mr.  Herbert  Fengar 

I.  Military  March  -  Schubert 

n.  Overture— "Raymonde"        Thomas 

in.  Spring  Song         -         -        Guilmant 


Invocation 


Rev.  James  R.  Danforth,  D.D. 


Address— "Early  Hopes"  -  George  G.  Wilson 

Professor  of  International  Law,  Harvard  University 


Solo— "The  Lord  is  My  Strength" 

Mrs.  Ira.  S.  Avery 


Bruno  Huhn 


Address — ' '  Memorials ' '  Frederick  H .  Sykes 

President,  Connecticut  College  for  Women. 

Organ  Postlude — "Finale — Festival  March"    Mendelssohn 
Mr.  Herbert  Fengar 


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